We don't punish the ones who fail. They just-don't go on,
He lay in bed staring upward into the darkness. On the bunk above him, he could hear Peter turning and tossing restlessly. Then Peter slid off the bunk and walked out of the room. Ender heard the hushing sound of the toilet clearing; then Peter stood...
Bean sighed inwardly. It never failed. Whenever he had any conversation with Ender, it turned into an argument.
Carn Carby left, and ender mentally added him to his private list of people who also qualified as human beings.
For the first time, Ender had found a living mind he could admire.
Ender didn't like fighting. He didn't like Peter's kind, the strong against the weak, and he didn't like his own kind either, the smart against the stupid.
Human beings are free except when humanity needs them. Maybe humanity needs you. To do something. Maybe humanity needs me—to find out what you're good for. We might both do despicable things, Ender, but if humankind survives, then we were good tool...
That's the problem with winning right from the start, thought Ender. you lose friends.
[That wall] might be breached sometime in the future, but for now the only real conversation between them was the roots that had already grown low and deep, under the wall, where they could not be broken. The most terrible thing, though, was the fear...
He felt like part of himself had been taken away, an inward prop that was holding up his courage and confidence.
As the doctor treated the wound, Mazer said, " I don't care how much you eat, Ender, self-cannibalism won't get you out of this school.
Remember, I'm the only person her who's paid to be nice to you. But not too nice. Give me any lip and I'll break your face. OK?
I stole their future from them; I can only being to repay by seeing what I can learn from their past.
Just because they didn't know they were killing human beings doesn't mean they weren't killing human beings.
So the whole war is beause we can't talk to each other.
The classes were valuable, but the real education was the game.
It had to be a trick or you couldn't have done it.
I'll become exactly the tool you want me to be, said Ender silently, but at least I wont be fooled into it. I'll do it because I choose to, not because you tricked me, you sly bastard.
